Describe the role of the election commission in ensuring free and fair elections
Answers
Elections are conducted according to the constitutional provisions and other laws made to that effect by the Parliament. The major laws in this regard are Representation of the People Act, 1950, which mainly deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls; the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which deals with all aspects of conduct of election disputes in detail. These disputes include the post-election disputes. The Supreme Court of India has held that where the enacted laws are silent or make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of elections, the Election Commission has the residuary powers under the Constitution to act in an appropriate manner. One of the most important features of the democratic polity is elections at regular intervals. Holding intervallic free and fair elections are essentials of democratic system. It is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. The Election Commission is regarded as the guardian of free and fair elections. In every election, it issues a Model code of Conduct for political parties and candidates to conduct elections in a free and fair manner. The Commission issued the code for the first time in 1971 and revised it from time to time. It laid down guidelines for conduct of political parties and manner of candidature during elections. However, there occur instances of violation of code by the political parties and misuse of official machinery by the candidates. The need for such code is in the interest of free and fair elections. However, the code does not have any specific statutory basis. It has only a persuasive effect. It only contains �rules of electoral morality". But this lack of statutory backing does not prevent the Commission from enforcing it.
A law regarding the registration process for political parties was enacted in 1989 and many parties got registered with the Commission. It was effective in avoiding the confusion of the administrative machinery and the electorate and ensuring that political parties are brought under the purview of the Election Commission. Also, in order to get rid of the growing corrupt influence of money during elections, the Election Commission has made many suggestions in this regard. The Election Commission has fixed the legal limits on the amount of money which a candidate can spend during election campaigns. These limits have been revised from time to time. The other measures have also been taken by the Election Commission in order to ensure free and fair elections.
The election commission play important role in ensuring free and fair elections. The Election Commission of India is a very powerful and independent institution and is not answerable to any other political institution. It has a wide range of powers, which are enlisted as:It takes decision on every aspect of the elections right from the announcement of elections to the declaration of the results.It implements the Code of Conduct and punishes any candidate or party that violates it.During the times of elections, it can order the government to follow some guidelines towards making the elections free and fair.At the time of election duty, the government officers work under the control of EC and not the ruling party.For the last 15 years, the EC is exercising its powers to full potential and has even increased them. Today the free and fair elections are just because of the working of EC.
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